Basic 101
Class 3
Drawing Cubic Objects
Materials:
For this class you can use the same number two pencil from the first two classes or, if you want, go ahead and incorporate your pencil of choice.
The Cube:
A cube has a top, a bottom, and four sides. /Thousands of objects have the cube at their very core. Cubes will not always be perfectly equilateral. They can be short, long or tall. They can be boxes, they can be found in animals and in churches. Cubes are everywhere. Look at figure 1.
This is a sketch that I completed in about 15 minutes or so—it is a graphite and colored pencil drawing. Notice that its main components are cubes. To create this sketch, I took two photos printed out from my computer—I print out all my images on photo paper as I notice that I get a sharper image. Both images are in color although sometimes I will print out a third gray scale image. However you can take a piece of hard red plastic and lay it over your color photo and the colors will wash away and you can clearly see your values. One of the color photos I place on my table as the reference photo. The other photo is placed on my light table and I backlight the image so that I can see elements of the picture that I would otherwise miss.
Next I just did a sketch starting first with a loose drawing to determine the basic geometric shapes. The shapes are drawn over and over again until I get the shape that I am looking for. In this case the core components are cubes. See if you can find the cubes in this image.
In this sketch there are four cubes clearly represented of varying shapes and sizes. Also because this is only a sketch I don’t need to strictly enforce the laws of perspective. If I want to develop this picture further I simply take a sheet of tracing paper, lay it over the sketch and trace the sketch lines onto the tracing paper—I can then make my perspective corrections onto the tracing paper prior to transfer—I use a heavy vellum to do this.. I then will rub graphite on the opposite side and transfer my corrected drawing to the “Good paper “ and then will proceed in whatever media that I want. You may also do the transfer via graphite paper, light table, or by taping the paper to a glass door or window and using it as a “natural light table”. You can also transfer by grid or by compass (which I do sometimes.)
Keeping these procedures in mind the class assignment is going to be a very short one. The idea is to draw….draw…draw… Below I have provided several examples of images that contain cubes. Some are very simple but repetitive. Choose whichever one of these you would like to draw OR you can choose an image of your own liking. Do the following:
1. Take a look closely at your chosen image and, in your mind, visualize the cubes that are contained in your picture. DO NOT visualize squares—visualize the cube as a three-dimensional object—the picture you are drawing is, after all, a picture of something three-dimensional.
2. Relative to the image, begin to flesh out the cubes on your paper—draw the entire cube or cubes as you see them.
3. Note their relationship to each other. Make sure that your proportions are correct. When you draw the cubes draw lightly restating your lines over and over until you get the image positioned an proportioned as you see fit. Start to flesh out the rest of the picture.
4. Darken those lines that you wish to keep—some lines on the three dimensional cube may not be seen in the picture that you draw so those lines DO NOT have to be darkened.
5. Add the detail to your image loosely again restating the lines until you are satisfied.
6. Once your sketch is complete, transfer the sketch to your vellum (tracing paper)—correct for perspective IF necessary.
7. Using your preferred method, transfer the image to your “good paper”.
8. Detail and fine-tune your image.
The beauty of this method is that you can take several images and create a composite image. You have a scene in a room, for example, that has no people but you have a sketch of a person who might fit in nicely—the solution is to transfer the person to your room drawing (adjusting for scale of course) and paint away.
For now, just concentrate on the cubes. If you have a drawing that you are working on and you do not have a lot of time, use that drawing for your exercise this week. However, this week I would also like you to take your sketchbook with you wherever you go and when you sketch—look for the cubes both man-made and in nature and see how many you can locate. Feel free to share your sketching with the rest of the class so that we may all learn from your experiences. Good luck and happy drawing!
PS: Below are links to the previous class and pre-class threads!
Basic 101:Pre-Class Assignments and FAQs--PLEASE READ
Basic 101:Class1 Basic 101: Class 2
Re: Basic 101: Class 3
KUDOS to you Jay for doing such a GREAT job with this! 
Re: Basic 101: Class 3
Linear Mode
